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Mateo Morillo
Professor Wertz-Orbaugh
9 February 2016
UWRT 1103
Inquiry proposal
German Scientific Advancements during WWII
The topic I plan to cover and explore is how the Germans managed to advance so
much in the area of science before and during the war. The nation of Germany, under the
Nazis regime, undertook a huge chance in how the government would invest money into
research for weapons, as well as other things such as improving cloths for soldiers. This
inquiry will mainly deal with how the victims of the holocaust were part of these
experiments and the lesson being, what happens when scientists are not limited to rules
and regulations on human life.
My background knowledge inside this area is average but I am eager to learn
more about the topic. Most of what I know comes from textbooks and previous history
and literary courses in high school. Another source for my previous acquired knowledge
comes from documentaries on history channels mainly dealing with the World War II era.
Being able to explore more upon this topic will help me fulfill an area of discussion I
have always found rather interesting. The area mainly dealing with scientific advances in
World War II.
A few resources I would be considering using are definitely textbooks from the
library. Along with those resources, a primary source could be a journal from either a
scientist from the era, or a holocaust survivor that was a witness to these extreme

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experiments. Those would be my main resources while accumulating information about
the topic.
The two questions I pose to the topic are, first, what was the Nazis biggest
advancement they manage to obtain from their unregulated research, and second, what
were some of the more questionable experiments brought upon the Jewish people during
the Holocaust. I ask these questions because the government put no restraint on the
scientists of the time working for the German military. They had a sudden influx of
testing patients, and given no restraints as far as what was inhumane and what was not.
The scientists were able to exploit this opportunity at the expense of others with no
repercussions making the discoveries and the methods to achieve them rather extreme,
however, these revelations we still use today.
The two ways of thinking that can drive this discussion are complete opposite.
There is the left side supporting the scientists in the no limit to advancements and
improvements to our current lives, to the right side condoning the rather inhumane testing
experiments due to the situation of the Jewish people. These two viewpoints will be
driving the discussion mainly because knowledge was gain, but at the cost and expense of
human life.
An inquiry question about my topic would be something along the lines of what
happens when science advancement has no limits. This can be an opened ended question
because of the pros and cons of it. Much like every topic, there will be areas of
questionable acts, and areas of straight facts. A subject dealing with science and humanity
is always an interesting course of discussion, especially when there was much to be
learned but at an extremely high price.

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